


Brooms & Runes

by willow_larkspur



Series: Gwen's Competition Fics [57]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banter, Desi Potter Family (Harry Potter), Gen, Genderqueer Sirius Black, James Potter has ADHD, Long-Suffering Remus Lupin, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 21:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20627648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willow_larkspur/pseuds/willow_larkspur
Summary: Lily got abandoned by James with their Runes project due. So she goes to get comfort from Sirius (and Remus).





	Brooms & Runes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Magi Silverwolf (Magi_Silverwolf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magi_Silverwolf/gifts).

> Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I’m just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn’t going to get you anything but tears.  
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that’s you.  
Author’s Note: This was written for Drabble Tag and is now being published so that y’all can enjoy James Potter with ADHD and a nonbinary Sirius Black.

(^^)  
**Brooms & Runes**  
(^^)

Dating James Potter had a few things that just was part of the package. One of those things was that James was a total broom-head. If given even half a chance, he will make a conversation about either quidditch or broom racing. Yes, even one about their final project in Arithmancy, which was due in less than two days and being finicky in the way that magic tended to be unexpectedly. Lily knew that James connected things in his head better when it dealt with flying in some way. She knew that he had both focusing and _unfocusing_ by turns and in just as many fits as their project was giving them currently. She knew this just as much as she knew Sirius loved lavender nail polish and pomegranate lip stain.

So she really shouldn't be as frustrated as she was when James just stood up unexpectedly and then left muttering about racing brooms. She was still tempted to hex him in the back or throw her stylus at the back of his head. Instead of giving into the threatening fit of pique, she forced herself to breathe through her clenched teeth until the urge passed. Then she packed up both of their stuff and headed back to the tower herself.

Instead of hiding in the girls dorm, she headed up to the sixth year boys dorms. She didn't bother knocking, even though that probably would have been more polite. She also didn't care that she was obviously interrupting some thing private between Sirius and Remus. Sirius had done the same thing to her and James often enough after all. After the first few times, the embarrassment became kind of moot. Well, so long as Peter wasn't around, because he had a tendency to be creepy about anything even remotely sexual, which never stopped being _icky_.

Lily threw their bags onto James' bed and then collapsed atop the two Marauders like her strings had been cut. Remus scooted over enough to let her slip in between him and Sirius. For his part, Sirius just tugged her until she was snuggled up beneath his chin. Then he began rubbing her side. She sighed as she felt the frustration bleed away from violent rage levels to something akin to stubbed toe against bedpost level.

"What did James do this time?" Remus asked, sounding mildly amused rather than annoyed. Sirius hissed at him and started playing with Lily's hair. Remus moved with a huff that made it clear that he had put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. "Do you want to talk about it or just ignore it for a bit?"

"He ran off to play with his broom," Lily complained, not moving from her snuggle, "and right in the middle of us trying to finish the stupid Runes project, too! I could have just smacked him! Why do boys have to be so stupid?"

"I feel like I should be offended," Remus muttered without real ire. "On behalf of my gender, I would like to lodge a complaint. We're not all stupid...well, except maybe Sirius here."

"Not a boy," Sirius corrected absently. His hand paused in her hair. "Well, most of the time. It does tend to change from moment to moment, after all."

"Pfft," Lily dismissed, "don't speak sense to me. Runes are stupid, too. I should never have taken it, let alone past my OWL."

"You'll get it," Remus assured her as he began rubbing little circles on her back. "You're aces at Runes. Whatever it is won't stop you for long."

"Less encouragement, more cuddles, wolf boy," she snapped. Remus chuckled as Sirius let out his bark-like laugh. Then he obediently curled around her back.

She lost track of time after that, but it couldn't have been more than an hour before the dorm door slammed open before James came running in. He was wind-swept and smelled of the early summer rains that had been plaguing the Highlands around Hogwarts for the last month. His greeting to the three of them was distracted as he immediately began digging through first his school bag, and then hers. With a triumphant cry, he pulled out their project journal.

"I figured it out," James explained. "We need to factor in the vector for the circumferential runes. If we do that, we will get not a _binary_ but a whole spectrum of power control, which we can then control using the..." He trailed off suddenly as he seemed to finally realize the state of them. He immediately looked concerned. "What's happen? Is it your parents? Your sister? Snip-snap?"

"Everything's fine," Lily said, a bit choked by the well of affection she felt for her boyfriend. He wasn't always the best at showing it, but he was such a romantic dork sometimes. Her words combined with how her emotions were obviously overwhelming her did nothing to reassure James, who looked helpless at Remus. In return, Remus sighed.

"Lily just had a bit of boys-are-stupid-itis," Remus said, which cleared up James' confusion immediately.

"I didn't mean it," Lily said, still feeling overwhelmed. "You're all brilliant! Even Sirius, in those fleeting moments when he actually is a boy."

"I think NEWTs have driven Lily around the bend," James commented carefully. "She's upset over nothing?"

"Maybe I did mean it," Lily amended before yanking Sirius to his feet as she stood up. "Maybe it's time for a girls meeting. I have the urge to braid Sirius' hair."

"Wait, but he's not a girl," James protested as his girlfriend and best friend left the dorm. Lily paused to look back over her shoulder at him.

"He's also not a boy," she quipped, "which is close enough for the moment. So_ there_."

"Yeah, so _there_," Sirius agreed. Then they were both gone, probably headed towards the girls dorm. James looked back at Remus, who held his hands up.

"I just date him," Remus said. "I don't even pretend to understand what goes on in the braiding sessions. I think they mostly kvetch about us. And by 'us', I mean _you_."

"I have such supportive friends," James complained. "Whatever did I do to end up with you assholes?"

"Just got lucky, I guess," Remus quipped before plopping down on Sirius' bed. "So what's this about the circumferential runes?"

**Author's Note:**

> Submitting Info:  
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A  
Individual Challenges: Two Cakes! (Y); Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Short Jog; Flags & Ribbons; Rian-Russo Inversion; True Colors; Ethnic & Present; Feeling So Logical [Playful]; Themes & Things A [Love]; Themes & Things B [Protection]; Old Shoes; Minvera’s Migraine; Shipmas; Brush; Gryffindor MC (x4)  
House: Hufflepuff  
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 02  
Subject (Task No.): n/a  
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [493] (School/Higher-Learning); 365 [68] (Urge); Scavenger Hunt [95] (Write a coming of age fic); Galleon Club (James/Lily)  
Space Address (Prompt): Su Bingo [1A] (Fire)  
Representation(s): James Potter/Lily Evans; Sirius Black/Remus Lupin; ADHD James Potter; nonbinary Sirius Black  
Bonus Challenges: In the Trench; Second Verse (Lovely Coconuts; Car in a Tutu; Unwanted Advice; Spinning Plates; Zucchini Bread; Sneeze Weasel; Nontraditional; Found Family; Persistence Still; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Unicorn; Larger than Life; A Long Dog; Mouth of Babes; Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade; Wabi Sabi)  
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); FR (Liberation; Satisfaction); O3 (Olivine)  
Word Count: 1052


End file.
